Stephen Curry, With a Little Help, Tramples the Rockets

The Warriors' Stephen Curry shooting against the Rockets' Dwight Howard in the first half. Curry shot 12 of 19 from the field, including 7 of 9 from 3-point range.CreditRonald Martinez/Getty Images

By Scott Cacciola

May 24, 2015

HOUSTON — The Golden State Warriors were planning to practice once they arrived here Friday afternoon, but their scheduled flight out of California was delayed because the airplane needed a new part. The delay stretched from minor (two hours) to major (six hours) after the people in charge concluded that the team needed a different plane entirely.

The Warriors, faced with normal people problems, kept as busy as best they could. Stephen Curry, an avid golfer, hit the driving range and worked through the clubs in his bag.

The team finally arrived in Houston after 10 p.m. — too late for the players to practice, not that it seemed to matter Saturday night at Toyota Center.

The Warriors are turning the N.B.A. playoffs into a highlight reel, and their 115-80 evisceration of the Rockets included a bit of everything. Teardrop floaters. Behind-the-back passes. Jumpers from 29 feet that barely grazed the net. And there were even moments when Curry let his teammates do fun stuff, too.

Curry, who dazzled the crowd into a state of bewilderment, finished with 40 points as the Warriors seized a three-games-to-none advantage in the Western Conference finals. Golden State can secure its first trip to the N.B.A. finals since 1975 with a win here Monday in Game 4.

Curry shot 12 of 19 from the field, including 7 of 9 from 3-point range. The game was so lopsided that fans tried to find solace in the little things, like a missed free throw by Curry in the second quarter. The crowd erupted. The Rockets were already down by 22.

On several occasions, Curry appeared to engage fans sitting courtside. They had paid a lot for those seats, Curry said, so he wanted to give them their money’s worth. Curry recalled one vocal fan who used a four-letter word. Was it the word help?

“That wasn’t it,” said Curry, who glanced in that fan’s direction after hitting a late 3-pointer. “I turned around and said, ‘Sit down.’ ”

James Harden struggled for the Rockets, scoring 17 points while shooting just 3 of 16 from the field. Dwight Howard had 14 points and 14 rebounds.

Capitalism was alive and well before the game. The attendants at one parking lot near the arena were charging $50 per vehicle, perhaps anticipating that the series might not return to Houston for Game 6. Folks around here might as well cash in.

The Rockets were hosting the conference finals for the first time since 1997, and an inordinate number of fans — of both genders — arrived wearing fake, Harden-esque beards. Howard led the team out of the tunnel about 15 minutes before the tip, and the crowd, outfitted in matching red and gray T-shirts, went bonkers.

The Rockets had won six of seven playoff games at Toyota Center, a source of great comfort for them. Howard, playing with a sprained left knee, cluttered the box score early on: a layup, a goaltend, an offensive foul and a putback to trim the Warriors’ lead to 17-12. He was, if nothing else, energetic and a nuisance on defense.

So it must have been troubling for the Rockets that even after holding the Warriors to 2-of-9 shooting from 3-point range in the first quarter, they still trailed, 30-18.

And then things got out of hand. With the Warriors stretching their defenders like rubber bands in the second quarter, Curry buried a deep 3-pointer — a heave that broke the N.B.A. record for the most 3-pointers in a single postseason, with 59. Curry now has 64 3-pointers in 13 playoff games.

“I always have confidence,” Curry said, “and it’s nice to see shots go down. But even if they weren’t, I’d have the same amount of confidence.”

Harden, meanwhile, labored for space against a series of long defenders: Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala and Draymond Green, all of whom took turns. After scoring 38 points in Game 2, Harden shot 1 of 8 from the field in the first half of Game 3.

As for Thompson, who has been trying to unearth his offense in this series, he attempted nine shots in the first quarter alone — and made three of them. But he was being assertive. Late in the second quarter, Curry found Thompson, who made a 3-pointer for a 57-35 lead. The Warriors were up by 25 at halftime after committing only one turnover, an illegal screen on Harrison Barnes.

“We defended like crazy,” Kerr said, “and because we didn’t turn it over, we didn’t have to guard them in transition.”

Before the game, Curry joked about what he described as “no, no, no, yes!” possessions, which involve him doing a lot of dribbling before draining an improbable shot. Kerr is not usually a big fan of them. But against the Rockets, Curry said, the Warriors moved the ball as well as they had all season. And there was one other factor.

“Steph,” Kerr said, “was Steph.”

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page SP9 of the New York edition with the headline: Curry, With a Little Help, Tramples the Rockets. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe